Can Jamaica’s voter apathy be fixed?
JAMAICA’S VOTER apathy is well documented. It is a chronic condition that did not develop overnight but has been festering for many years. Both the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People’s National Party (PNP) have worked assiduously over the past five to six decades to earn our mistrust.
Decades of political violence, corruption, cronyism, and a lack of transparency and accountability from both sides of the political divide have left Jamaicans punchdrunk, disillusioned and disengaged. Our present situation finds us at possibly the nadir of our apathy. Both parties have turned off much of the populace, with many Jamaicans abstaining from voting as they see little difference between them. To many of us, a change of government is like, as the Jamaican proverb goes, “swapping black dog fi monkey”.
Andrew Holness took office on a wave of popularity akin to that of a rock star. He was young, confident, relatable and brimming with progressive ideas. However, over the years since he has been in office, we have seen arrogance, allegations of corruption and impropriety and a severe lack of transparency take hold over him and his administration. During his tenure, we have seen the general secretary of the party shifted from more than one ministry amid allegations of corruption, a former minister of education arrested and slapped with several corruption-related charges, and the minister of health and wellness and his ministry taken to task regarding funds that have been unaccounted for, as well as the questionable issuing of contracts. The Integrity Commission informed us that six members of parliament are being investigated for illicit enrichment, but their identities have remained a secret, and the prime minister’s statutory declarations for the past two years are yet to be certified.
The prime minister’s wife is now the House Speaker, so the couple controls two of the three branches of government. A friend recently told me that, on hearing of Mrs Holness’ appointment, her eightyear-old son remarked, “Isn’t that a conflict of interest? How can she be objective?” Even a child sees that this is inappropriate. Then there was the salary increase of the political directorate, right after our teachers were given a ‘take it or leave it’ offer that many found unsatisfactory, and as many other civil servants, such as nurses and police, struggle to make ends meet.
BROKEN PROMISES
And there are the broken promises. On entering office, the prime minister told us he would institute term limits and a fixed election date. He has not done this. He assured us that he would control crime to the extent that we would be able to sleep with our windows and doors open. However, crime and our murder rate are now so out of control that despite the existence of ministries of National Security, Justice, and Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Holness declared that he needs a separate ministry to “treat crime and violence”.
You would think that with the abovementioned litany of woes regarding the Holness administration, Jamaicans would be clamouring, en masse, for Mark Golding’s PNP to take over the reins of power. But they are not. Golding is a man with a good reputation, devoid of scandal and allegations of corruption. Unfortunately, many Jamaicans see his party as a rudderless ship. What we see in the PNP is much chaos and disunity. There are way too many distractions.
Gaffes on political and social media platforms have negatively affected the party, and the discord and resentment among Comrades are palpable. Social media posts, leaked voice notes, and public utterances have laid bare the acrimony and discontentment within the party. There are repeated episodes of the vociferous rejection of candidates selected to run in some constituencies by the people they were chosen to represent. One candidate even reported death threats from within the party. Some of us scratch our heads in amazement and wonder if the party learned nothing from the adverse effects of the public infighting within Edward Seaga’s JLP that kept that party in the political wilderness for almost two decades.
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
The PNP had a golden opportunity to connect and show solidarity with Jamaicans when the massive pay hike of the political directorate was announced. They could have objected to the proposed salaries and taken a smaller amount. But Golding stood alone, the proverbial voice in the wilderness, calling to “roll it back,” while his peers took the money and ran.
The visibility of three of the most popular party stalwarts, Lisa Hanna, Damion Crawford, and Raymond Pryce, on the PNP platform, for whatever reasons, has been significantly attenuated, and many wonder why. There are also obvious communication flaws both within the party and between the party and the public, and it makes one wonder about the state of the PNP’s PR and communications machinery. Or if they have any at all.
Neither party has managed to convince the majority of Jamaicans that they truly care about us. What we see is selfishness and self-aggrandising behaviour. The JLP behaves as if it can do whatever it pleases with impunity, and members of the PNP appear to be more interested in washing their dirty linen in public than in coalescing and trying to settle their differences and fortify their party. Jamaicans do not want arrogant leadership. We are also aware that a disunited group cannot lead effectively, and we do not want that either. We are between a rock and a hard place.
But Mr Holness and Mr Golding have the ability to change all that. What it takes is sacrifice and making difficult decisions. It means distancing themselves from certain individuals, and even instituting punitive measures for some, and acting in the best interest of the country and not themselves and their cronies.
The question is, are they willing to do it?